To apply for a New Zealand Scholarship, you must meet all of the eligibility criteria. You can complete the online questionnaire below to confirm whether you can apply.

The Eligibility questionnaire will check in detail if you meet all of the eligibility criteria. The Eligibility questionnaire will check things such as:

Which country you hold citizenship in

How long you have been living in your home country

How much work experience you have

Whether we provide scholarships to your country

Whether your intended study aligns to levels and sectors provided to your country

You must complete the eligibility questionnaire before you can apply for a Scholarship.

Online Questionnaire

Please ensure that you record your eligibility results. You will be asked for this during your application.

The technical issues that we were experiencing with the application portal have now been resolved. Thank you for your patience and we apologise for any inconvenience. Please note that there are no changes to the closing dates.

To apply for a full New Zealand Scholarship, you must be 18 years old or older when you start your scholarship. This means if you are 17 years of age when you apply, you must have your 18th birthday before you start your scholarship in semester one.

Exception for Samoa: Scholars from Samoa can be 17 years of age when they commence their scholarship.

There is no upper age limit for applicants. This means if you are 18 and over, you can apply. However, we do prefer applicants who are under 40 years of age for New Zealand Scholarships for university or tertiary students.

Check visa requirements before you apply for a scholarship

You only need to apply for a student visa, if we offer you a New Zealand Scholarship and you accept that offer. But before you apply for a New Zealand Scholarship, we strongly recommend that you check the student visa requirements on the relevant immigration website, listed below. This is because you can only study abroad on scholarship, if you successfully get a student visa.

When and how to apply for a student visa

As soon as a scholar accepts a New Zealand Scholarship, they must apply for a student visa on the relevant immigration website below. We recommend you start your visa application as soon as possible. The visa application process can take two to three months and it involves medical tests.

If a scholarship recipient does not get a student visa, we will have to withdraw the scholarship.

Student visa requirements and visa applications for study in New Zealand

If your scholarship application is for study in New Zealand, then you must meet these visa requirements:

We reimburse some visa and medical costs

Most scholars have to pay for the cost of a visa application and any medical tests before they come to New Zealand. When you arrive in New Zealand, your chosen university or education institution will pay you back for the cost of a visa and any medical tests. Please keep all payment receipts, as you will need to show these to your university or education institution to get your money back.

Exception for some Pacific countries:

In some Pacific countries, your local New Zealand High Commission will pay for the cost of your visa application and any medical tests. The High Commission will contact preferred candidates about payment.

Check you meet academic entry requirements and English language requirements

As part of the New Zealand Scholarships application process, you need to choose your preferred education institution and preferred courses. Scholarship applicants don’t need to apply for admission to their preferred education institution and courses.

But scholarship applicants do need to check that they are likely to meet the minimum academic requirements and the minimum level of English required for their courses.

Course entry requirements are set by your chosen education institution so you must check minimum entry requirements on their website before you apply for a New Zealand Scholarship.

PhD applicants should look for a supervisor as soon as possible

From an early stage, PhD scholarship applicants should look for and email suitable PhD supervisors at New Zealand universities.

Only shortlisted applicants need English language test scores

You do not need to sit an English language test or provide English language test scores when you apply for a New Zealand Scholarship.

If we select you for the applicant short list during our scholarship selection process, then you will need to provide your English language test scores.

We accept test scores from these three English competency testing systems:

IELTS (the International English Language Testing System) OR

TOEFL (the Test of English as a Foreign Language) OR

PTE Academic (the Pearson Test of English Academic).

If you have passed an IELTS, TOEFL or PTE Academic test to the required level during the last 12 months, then your university or education institution will accept these test scores.

If you do not have IELTS, TOEFL or PTE Academic test scores from the last 12 months, we will tell applicants on the short list, if and when they need to sit one of these English competency tests.

Some applicants may avoid English language tests

If you have already completed some of your previous qualifications in English, your preferred education institution may not require any IELTS, TOEFL or PTE Academic test scores from you. This is the decision of your preferred university or education institution only. You should contact your preferred education institution for a final decision about whether you need to provide English test results.

General level of English expected for post-graduate and under-graduate study

Each university or education institution sets the minimum level of English you need for your preferred courses, so check their website.

Generally, to study for a postgraduate qualification, you must have at least:

an overall IELTS score of 6.5 and no band less than 6.0

a TOEFL score of 90 on the internet-based test

an overall PTE Academic score of 58.

Generally, to study for an undergraduate qualification, you must have at least:

an overall IELTS score of 6.0 and no band less than 5.5

a TOEFL score of 80 on the internet-based test

an overall PTE Academic score of 42.

Who organises and pays for the English language tests?

English language testing takes place during the final stages of our scholarship selection process. Only applicants on our scholarships short list, need current IELTS, TOEFL or PTE Academic test scores.

In most cases, shortlisted applicants will need to organise and pay for their own IELTS, TOEFL or PTE Academic tests. Shortlisted applicants will need to book a test with a company who does English language testing close to their location.

If you are on our applicants’ short list, you will need to book your IELTS or TOEFL testing as soon as possible. This is because the testing process can take several weeks.

You may lose the chance to get a New Zealand Scholarship, if your English language testing application form is late or incomplete or inaccurate.

We pay for English language testing for these countries

We organise and pay for the IELTS test for shortlisted applicants from these countries:

Cambodia

Fiji

Indonesia

Kiribati

Lao PDR

Myanmar

Nauru

Papua New Guinea

Samoa (except Samoa Foundation applicants)

Solomon Islands

Timor-Leste

Tonga

Tuvalu

Vanuatu

IELTS testing for Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Timor-Leste

Shortlisted applicants from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Timor-Leste must sit the IELTS test before we conduct selection interviews. We have a representative in each country who organises the IELTS testing. This representative company will contact you to organise an IELTS test for you at an agreed time and location.

IELTS testing for Indonesia

Shortlisted applicants from Indonesia must sit the IELTS test after selection interviews. We have a representative in Indonesia who organises the IELTS testing. This representative company will contact you to organise an IELTS test for you at an agreed time and location in Indonesia.

We contract a company, called Auckland Uniservices, to conduct IELTS testing in the Pacific. Before the IELTS test, Auckland Uniservices will also deliver a course to shortlisted applicants to prepare them for the IELTS test. This course takes place during two or three evenings at a location in your own country.

The New Zealand High Commission will contact applicants living on outer Pacific islands about travel to the location of the IELTS test in their country. Applicants living on outer Pacific islands may take this preparatory course online, if you have good internet access.

Apply for the IELTS online

If you are a shortlisted applicant from the Pacific, you must apply for the IELTS test online. Auckland Uniservices will email the online application form to you. Auckland Uniservices does not accept late IELTS applications. You may lose the chance to get a New Zealand Scholarship, if your IELTS application is late or incomplete or inaccurate.

IELTS applicants need valid passports

All IELTS test applicants must have a valid passport. All IELTS applications must include a digital colour copy of your passport.

If you don’t have a valid passport, in some situations the IELTS Regional Australia Office may give you special permission to use another form of official identification.

If you have any special needs or questions

If you have a disability or any special learning needs (e.g. hearing aids, a visual or learning disability), please email Auckland Uniservices as soon as possible. They may need 6-12 weeks to prepare for any additional requirements.

English training for some shortlisted applicants with a test score just under the required level

We may pay for English language training for some preferred candidates who have a current IELTS test score that is almost at the required level. We will tell you if you are a preferred candidate who can get this English language training.

For preferred candidates from these Pacific countries

We may pay for up to 12 months of English language training for some preferred candidates from these Pacific countries:

Fiji

Kiribati

Papua New Guinea

Samoa (except Samoa Foundation applicants)

Solomon Islands

Timor-Leste

Tonga

Tuvalu

Vanuatu.

This English language training is part of your scholarship. It takes place in New Zealand, immediately before you start studying your qualification. After completing this English language training, you must meet the English language entry requirements for you preferred course. If you don’t meet the requirements, then your scholarship will cease and you must return home.

For preferred candidates from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Indonesia

We may pay for up to nine months of English language training for some preferred candidates from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Indonesia.

This English language training occurs in your own country. Our representative will contact you to organise this English language training for you at an agreed time and location in your own country.

After completing this English language training, you must meet the English language entry requirements for you preferred course. If you don’t the requirements, you can’t have a scholarship.

For preferred candidates from other eligible countries

Occasionally for preferred candidates from other eligible countries, we may pay for up to one semester of English language training in New Zealand.

This English language training is part of your scholarship. It takes place in New Zealand, immediately before you start studying your qualification. After completing this English language training, you must meet the English language entry requirements for you preferred course. If you don’t meet the requirements, then your scholarship will cease and you must return home.

We expect scholars to contribute to their country’s social or economic development for two years after completing their scholarship study.

The purpose of a New Zealand Scholarship is to fund the training of citizens from developing countries, so they can positively impact on their country’s development by sharing new skills and knowledge gained from their study.

That is why we expect all scholars to return home after their scholarship for at least two years to contribute to the social and economic development of their own country.

When shortlisting scholarship applicants, we prefer applicants who can clearly describe on their application form, how they will improve their country’s social and economic development after their scholarship.

When assessing scholarship applications, we prefer applicants who want to study courses that align strongly with their current work experience. We prefer applicants who will continue working in their current job sector after they finish their scholarship.

On their New Zealand Scholarships application form, applicants must describe how their previous work experience relates to their proposed courses or career. Postgraduate applicants or applicants who finished high school a few years ago ust have the following work experience:

One year of fulltime work experience (i.e. 30 hours or more per week), OR

Two years of part-time work experience (i.e. up to 29 hours per week).

Exception for school leavers and first year undergraduate students:These two types of scholarship applicant do not need work experience:

applicants who apply immediately after completing high school, OR

applicants who apply during their first year of undergraduate study.

If you are not eligible, you can research other scholarships in New Zealand

If you do not meet all of the eligibility criteria, then you cannot apply for a New Zealand Scholarship on this government website.